24 Hours to Go
by Halcyon37
Summary: Our favorite flight attendant, Mary, prepares for what could be the flight of her life!


24 Hours to Go  
  
This story is part of a lyric wheel fanfic ring started at Television Without Pity. It's a parody of a day in the life of our favorite flight attendant, Mary. You'll find the lyrics to my "inspiration" song at the end of the story.  
  
Disclaimer 22: I don't own the 7th Heaven characters, nor would I ever want to.  
  
Disclaimer 23: I don't own the rights to any songs used in the making of this fanfic either.  
  
*****  
  
The sounds of the screechy pop song Where You Are jarred Mary out of a deep and restful clumber. "Damn," she thought to herself, "this day is not getting off to a good start. That stupid song has got to be one of the worst ever written." She didn't know why, but the singer's high-pitched voice and wobbly head always reminded her of her brother Simon's girlfriend, Cecilia. Luckily she lived out in Fort Lauderdale now and didn't have to spend too much time around her family and their hangers-on anymore.  
  
After rolling out of bed, Mary made her way to the kitchen where she poured herself a tall glass of fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice - she had never liked those juice boxes or single serving things her mom used to buy - fresh juice was so much better. She spent those few minutes thinking back on her two years as a flight attendant at Jet Blue. During her first year, she had been relegated to the dreaded Buffalo / Glen Oak run. She had lived with Ruth and the Colonel during that time and had been really happy when she had the opportunity to make Fort Lauderdale her base city. In the beginning, her decision was based on a desire to be closer to Robbie, her ex-boyfriend from high-school, but that hadn't worked out. He had started dating some Cuban hussy named Joy who was always prancing around in tight, pink pants. After their break-up, Robbie had just seemed to disappear from her life completely, although at one time they had been very close.  
  
Despite her failure with Robbie, and a pilot named Captain Jack that she had dated for awhile, Mary was quite happy with her new life. She now worked more interesting routes like Fort Lauderdale / Atlanta or Salt Lake City. It was funny how many places she had never known existed before coming to work for Jet Blue. Plus, if she continued to progress with the company, she might one day be promoted to the most coveted route, San Juan. Mary was pretty sure that it wasn't even part of the United States!  
  
However, on this particular day Mary was taking over her old Buffalo / Glen Oak route. Apparently some girl had just quit her job without giving notice or anything. Although she wasn't looking forward to a long day of work, she'd have to go from Fort Lauderdale to Buffalo and then cross-country from Buffalo to Glen Oak, she was kind of excited at the prospect of seeing her family. It had been a long time since she had been back to Glen Oak. Her job and her parents' and siblings' busy schedules meant that contact was limited to short phone calls every few months, and they were usually very one-sided. Generally Ruthie called her and listed off everything that was happening with the family and then hung up without asking anything about Mary or even saying goodbye.  
  
As Mary got dressed for work - she really did find the Blue Jet uniforms to be very flattering - she thought about what she would do during her weekend layover in Glen Oak. Of course she would visit all her old haunts like the Pool Hall, Pete's Pizza and the Promenade Multiplex, but she hoped there would be at least one special activity going on, maybe a wedding at her dad's church or something. It seemed there was always someone getting married in Glen Oak. Maybe she would even meet someone nice at the airport to take as a date. She continued to dream about her weekend as she tied her Jet Blue scarf around her neck and gathered up her bags to leave. As she stepped outside she noticed it was raining. "Drat!" she thought to herself as she stepped back into her apartment to fetch an umbrella, "At least the weather will be nicer in Glen Oak." In all her life, she couldn't remember a drop of rain falling on her native town.  
  
***  
  
When Mary arrived at the airport she checked in with the ground crew to see what gate her flight was leaving from. One of her co-workers informed her that the Buffalo flight was scheduled to depart form gate A 42. After thanking her colleagues and wishing them a good day, she quickly made her way through the security check. While she was passing under the metal detector she heard a woman complaining about her purse being searched. She rudely remarked to the security guard, "Would an Al-Quaeda member carry a $350 Luis Vuitton bag? I don't think so!" Mary never understood why people whined so much about the tightened security measures since September 11th. Didn't they understand it was for their own safety and protection? "Oh well," she thought, "I guess there are idiots everywhere."  
  
When she arrived at gate A 42, she saw that today she'd be flying with Jeff. He had just been starting out with Jet Blue when she was promoted out of the Buffalo / Glen Oak route, but she remembered that she had enjoyed working with him those couple of weeks. She didn't know why, but he was so easy to talk to, almost like he was one of the girls. He was always so peppy and energetic on the flights and that was a plus, especially when they were going cross-country and passengers tended to get restless.  
  
***  
  
The flight from Fort Lauderdale to Buffalo was uneventful. As Jeff and Mary made their way to their gate they chatted about what they were going to do over the weekend.  
  
"I'll probably just hang out with my family in Glen Oak. I haven't seen them for a few months," chattered Mary.  
  
"I'm planning a big trip to San Francisco with my close friend Morris. It's going to be so much fun," gushed Jeff. "I really can't wait to go shopping for a silk kimono in Chinatown and to see some good theatre."  
  
"I've never been to San Francisco," remarked Mary. "But I hope I'll be able to make it there one of these days."  
  
"Well, I'm sure you would love it!" squealed Jeff. "I can't wait to start working out of Vermont. Katie in HR said it wouldn't be long until there'd be an opening on the Montpelier / San Francisco route. I'll be glad to get out of dreary Buffalo, and Vermont has such a nice community."  
  
Mary wasn't really sure what Jeff meant by community, but she figured it must be some kind of church he belonged to or something. As she arrived at their gate, she noticed a group of men sitting in the waiting area that looked very familiar. As she walked past, she heard one of them mutter under his breath, "Just get me to the airport, put me on a plane. Hurry, hurry, hurry, before I go insane. I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain."  
  
"That's strange," thought Mary, but she didn't have time to analyze his mutterings as she and Jeff boarded the place to prepare for the day's passengers.  
  
***  
  
"Passengers traveling with small children or those needing special assistance are now invited to board Jet Blue flight 177 to Glen Oak through gate C 51."  
  
Mary heard the announcement and took her place at the front of the plane, ready to greet today's passengers. A nice elderly couple came up and Mary directed them towards their seats. She also helped a mother who was traveling alone with her three children. However, when she saw the strange man being wheeled up to the plane by his companions, she suddenly realized where she knew them from.  
  
"You're my Dad's old music buddies!" said Mary as they stopped to hand her their boarding passes. "What are you guys going back to Glen Oak for? Are you planning some kind of reunion concert or something?" joked Mary.  
  
"Ummm. no," replied the man pushing the wheelchair who Mary seemed to remember was named Ray. "Didn't you hear the news? Your father had a heart attack. But don't worry, we're just on our way to cheer him up! Your father has always believed that music has special healing properties. We're planning on doing his favorite Elvis number from Blue Hawaii."  
  
Don, if Mary remembered correctly, said, "Don't feel bad that you didn't know. Apparently we were the first people the hospital called, at the request of your father. I don't think he's even told your mother yet!"  
  
The fourth member of the band, the one in the wheelchair whose name must be Chris just looked Mary in the eyes and said, "I wanna be sedated."  
  
After making sure her father's friends found their seats, Mary went to the back of the plane where Jeff was getting the drink carts ready.  
  
"I think this is going to be a really long flight," sighed Mary.  
  
"I think you're right," replied Jeff, "But we'll just have to make the best of it. Just think of your home, even when the world don't treat you right, that's the one place you can always go!"  
  
"Right," said Mary. Although in her mind she was thinking, "I'm going to hate this goddamn flight!"  
  
*****  
  
I WANNA BE SEDATED  
  
[chorus]:  
  
Twenty-twenty-twenty-four hours to go  
  
I wanna be sedated  
  
Nothing to do, no where to go, oh  
  
I wanna be sedated  
  
Just get me to the airport, put me on a plane  
  
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go insane  
  
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain  
  
Oh no oh oh oh oh  
  
[chorus]  
  
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane  
  
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go insane  
  
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain  
  
Oh no oh oh oh oh  
  
[chorus]  
  
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show  
  
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go loco  
  
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my toes  
  
Oh no oh oh oh oh  
  
[chorus]  
  
Just put me in a wheelchair, get me to the show  
  
Hurry hurry hurry, before I go loco  
  
I can't control my fingers, I can't control my toes  
  
Oh no oh oh oh oh  
  
Ba-ba-baba, baba-ba-baba, I wanna be sedated  
  
Ba-ba-baba, baba-ba-baba, I wanna be sedated  
  
Ba-ba-baba, baba-ba-baba, I wanna be sedated  
  
Ba-ba-baba, baba-ba-baba, I wanna be sedated 


End file.
